These words are quite hard to write, given their intention, but they are still quite important for me, considering that this could be the end of this era of my young life.
I found CFC.net 6 years and a half ago (December 31st 2005, for your information). I had had some problems with my Civilization IV game, and I was looking for a way to repair it so that I could continue playing it. I had luck in that I found a thread where they explained it more or less, and I could fix the problem.
One of the first activities I engaged was reading a Tale about CivIV, one that was a bit like a crossover between CivIV and The Immortals, joking about the fact that the leaders of the games were seemingly immortal.
I discovered the NES section almost by chance. I remember that my first intervention was in
The World Turned Upside Down, where I complained of the breaking down Spain had been submitted to, and someone suggested that I joined instead of complaining. Then, I joined my first NES,
A Brave New World, where I played Greece. Or, rather, I tried, because EQandcivfanatic chose to end it in the same turn I joined.
My second NES was luckier.
CrezNES. In there, I played the nation of Tartessos, trying to evoke the name of the famous pre-Romanic kingdom. One of my most successful rounds. Still laughing at the fact that I invaded Carthage and they had no soldiers at home. Also saw the first iteration of one of my favourite special units, the Guerrillero, which has not only appeared in several other NESes (culminating in the Legión Hispana in EQ's Capto Iugulum), but also on my Alternative History,
The Legacy of the Glorious, which I hope you will read and give me your opinions about.
From there, there were many NESes. One where WWII had gone wrong and the Nazis won (don't remember the mod), where I was the UK and had to go through a civil war that lasted exactly until the last turn of the game; JNES, where I played a Republican nation more or less based on Spain; TWTUD 2, with Andalusia (where I asked like five times that the name of the leader was changed, to no avail, and I could not even get the Solar Panels project to its end); INES II, with the Royal Republic of Iberia; Denmark in ABNW 2...
At some point in time, I said, "Hey, why don't I try my hand at modding a NES?" After some work,
MilarNES: Birth Of A Civilization was born. The rules were not very polished, but it did become quite a good game, reaching about 1000 posts before I realised that players were not very interested in the game and chose to cancel it.
I then tried my hand at modding, again with a Fresh Start NES,
MilarNES: Civilizations of the World, which had slightly more complex rules. Unfortunately, once more I fell victim to the lack of interest by the players, and stopped it after about 650 posts.
The World Is Yours was another attempt, but once more it was killed by lack of interest.
There were then several abortive attempts to start a new NES, like
MilarNES III: Raw & Stock, an attempt to make something original and portray the economical wars of several companies in the same nation;
MilarNES 3 - Battle for Wegener-2, a quite original game based on GURPS: Infinite Worlds, that would have sent people to an alternative planet where they would have to extract resources and send them back to Homeline while fighting with the other players; or Homeworld NES, one that did not even get into a thread, and that had lots of potential.
I had a little more success with
Evil Genius NES, based on the game of the same name, but unfortunately things did not go well, due to lack of options on what to do, which led to massive lack of interest from the players.
Viva Trópico 2: A Pure Politics NES! went better, thanks to players that got involved in the game, but all of a sudden nobody save for two or three people said anything at all in the debates and such, and I cancelled it when it was clear no one wanted to keep playing.
Those who have been keeping up with the New NESes thread will know that I was planning to make a new NES, based on the X-COM games. Notice I said "was".
Because, after thinking it hard for some days, I have decided
to abandon NESing altogether.
This was not a spur-of the moment decision, but a choice made over a period of time in the last weeks. My exam period starts in a couple of weeks, and I want to be well prepared for the exams. Also, I feel like I am spending way too much time in here, when I could be doing other things, like working on the aforementioned The Legacy of the Glorious, working on my other writing projects (among them a novel that was inspired, funnily enough, on LizNES6) or even starting to do some exercise on my own to keep some fitness.
Other problem is that, well, I've always felt as a bit of an outcast around here. Being in a different timezone has not helped a lot when it came to talking with people that live six hours before me.
Of course, this does not mean I will not come back, but, for the foreseeable future, you can count me out of all NESes I might be playing now or might play in the immediate future. Those that hoped for my presence in their future NESes (especially DarthNader, who had designed this NES that was really interesting about a world without oil, and where coal is king everywhere), I am sorry for frustrating your expectations.
The NESes I've liked the most:
-
CrezNES: my first NES ever (ABNW does not count, did not get to play at all...). Played Tartessos.
-
A Brave New World 2: one NES where I ended up losing anything, but at least those Frenchies paid for their conquest in blood. Played Denmark.
-
BirdNES3: never thought that working to explore an unknown continent and establish a colonial empire could be so interesting. And long winded. Played as Portugal.
-
JNES: Age of Exploration: I took a small western Republic and turned it into a great power. Even managed to create several democracies around me. And then the Eastern hordes invaded me. I put the blame on the Savilists for my fall. Played as the Republic of Taifa.
-
INES II: where I developed the best backstory for my nation. It only looked like Spain and Portugal had joined, and had also taken part of Southern France. Then I started to work on it, and it turned out that the Royal Republic of Iberia had two heads of state, one of them being King Juan Carlos I, who lost his children in a military coup in 1981, as well as developing the access to power of the Iberian Party. Played the Royal Republic of Iberia.
-
M&ANES II: one of the several RPG NESes I played. And it was real fun. I still laugh at the DC joke, as well as the "fututure" slip. I played a half-demon warrior called Riastey, and I was *this* near to having a freakin' familiar. Wish it had kept up...
-
Dr.NES: One of the most... interesting NESes I've ever played. I took the role of medic the first time, and sniper the second, whose backstory was simply magnificent.
-
FANES II: I took the reigns of a magnificent nation and, by the end of the game, I had boosted my economy to higher degrees, had orchestrated the death of a foreign king and putting the blame on another kingdom... and I still want to
throttle Flavius Aetius for his outright and almost criminal abandonment of his own NES right before I started an attack that would have completely wiped out my eastern Burgundian neighbour, thus adding those lands to my kingdom. Played as the Kingdom of France-Aragon.
-
SysNES: I got roped into the game, don't remember who did the roping. I do remember I loved playing with my Cyber-Demarchist Cyborgs. A pity that Kal'thzar chose to backstab me. We could have done great things together. Played the Vazan.
-
BOTWAWKI: this Fallout NES was magnificent. Starting with a tiny town in western New York, I managed to take over a big part of Lake Ontario's eastern coast, becoming a great power of my own. The only pity was that EQ never followed on from there, because it would have been really cool to take my guys and keep bringing civilazition everywhere. Played the Jeffersonian Libertarians/Liberty Commonwealth.
-
Tales of the Ether: come on, a Space 1888 NES? Steampunk, a spaceship with a multinational crew brought together almost by chance... the worst was that it died real soon.
-
TuxLife: managing to evolve my super crab with its own poisonous horn and almost able to get out of water was kind of fun. Played the Artropodia family.
-
Capto Iugulum: playing the Empire of Spain was top fun!
The only problem is that many of my best ideas did not get through, and that I was forced to contend with the idiocy of the people of my nation, who did not realise I was doing the best for them (special points for the Sicilians), as well as the pigheadedness of certain people I won't mention and the betrayal of several others who had been allies of mine.
Of course, I do not want to leave this place without saying my opinion of some of the guys I met here:
- Terrance888: when I arrived here, you were still Charles Li, and we became good friends. It is a pity that we drifted away, but you were a nice guy during that time we talked. Also, you were a good player in my NESes.
- DarthNader: he's probably one of the best guys I've met in here. Quite nice to talk with. Hope he has a lot of luck with his future NES. I'm sure you will probably find another person to play the USA. Also, I transferred the ownership of the Homeworld NES group to you, I am sure you will find things to do with those data and other things I worked on.
- Seon: we met on Dragonson's NES, and I found you a great, really fun guy. Pity we did not meet in any NESes recently.
- Luckymoose: well, I also liked you quite a lot. Though, recently, I am left thinking that you are a great actor, because playing the pigheaded, avaricious, greedy and jealous leadership of Brazil in Capto Iugulum takes a lot of work.
- Crezth: somehow, despite the fact that you were the driving force behind the last Capto Iugulum war, I like you enough. Maybe it is because you were the one that modded my first NES, or perhaps because of the advice you gave me, but, well, you are quite a good guy.
- ZeletDude, sprylllino, Lord of Elves: you have been good allies in this last war.
- TheLizardKing: dammit, you should have updated while I was here! Now, I will be left without knowing if I ever managed to Also, your NESes were very good.
- EQandcivfanatic: you have been my most common mod. Your NESes have mostly been really good. For me, EQNES is almost a synonym of "great NES". You are also a great sounding board for some of my ideas. Though, there is still one thing I am wondering about: were you really going to do it, or were you just pulling my leg when you said you would call your next dog "Balompié"? Because I find it really hard to believe...
- Nuke: just some advice for you. (1) Diplomacy does not mean "demand, demand, demand". (2) You really need some work on the modding. (3) Behaving OOC should be punished, not rewarded.
Well, that's all. I will still be on AIM, if you guys ever want to talk, and perhaps use me as a sounding board.
If any of you wishes to take charge of the X-COM NES, I am willing to send you everything I have on that. Though, I will ask you that you answer the following answer:
- What are the real names of Sheriff Howard Benson and Evil Rick?
Well, it's taken me the entire day to write this, and it was a bit difficult, because, you know, I've been around here for four years now, and I really liked all of this.
Nos vemos,
Milarqui.
By the way: I felt really disappointed that no one got around to wishing me a Happy Birthday. Which was two months ago.
